'Game Of Thrones' To Officially End After Season 8, With Hopes Of A Spinoff

At the Television Critics Association’s press tour in Beverly Hills on Saturday, HBO finally confirmed that “Game of Thrones” would end after Season 8, Entertainment Weekly reports.

When asked whether the network intended to honor showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss’ eight-season plan, HBO programming president Casey Bloys told reporters that the long-rumored end date was in fact true.

“Yes, they have a very specific plan about the number of seasons they want to do,” Bloys said. “Believe me, as the new [programming executive] coming in, if I could get them to do more. I would take 10 more seasons. But we take their lead on what they think they can do the best version of the show.”

The news comes after HBO sent “GoT” fans everywhere into a tailspin with a press release announcing that Season 7 of the fantasy saga would only consist of seven episodes and debut in Summer 2017, months later than initially anticipated. The official episode count for the final season is still up for debate, according to EW, although it is expected to consist of only six episodes.

But Bloys did give fans some hope when asked about the possibility of a spinoff after the series comes to a close, most likely in 2018.

“We’ve talked about it, it’s something I’m not opposed to, but of course it has to make sense creatively,” he said. “I’m not sure that [Benioff and Weiss] could really wrap their heads around it when they’re just about to start production [on season 7]. It’s a pretty intense production, they’re about to start production soon. I’m open to it. The guys weren’t opposed to it, but there’s no concrete plans for it at this point.”